Dr.-Ing. Sebastian Petzet, BASF SE, has been awarded this year’s Willy Hager Prize by DECHEMA Gesellschaft für Chemische Technik und Biotechnologie e.V. (Society for Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology) and the Wasserchemische Gesellschaft (Water Chemistry Society), a division of the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (GDCH, German Chemical Society), in the name of the Willy Hager Foundation, Stuttgart, Germany.
The prize, which is endowed with € 6,000, honors outstanding work in the field of water or waste water treatment and was presented at the annual meeting of the Wasserchemische Gesellschaft (Wasser 2015), on May 11, 2015.
Sebastian Petzet is honored for his dissertation on phosphorus recovery from sewage, work performed at the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany. His research is of particular importance because resources of phosphate, an essential plant nutrient and thus important for food production, are finite. Phosphorus must therefore be recovered from waste. Petzet has developed effective and inexpensive processes for the recovery from sewage sludge and sewage sludge ashes, which are particularly rich in phosphorus.
Selected Publications
- Phosphorrückgewinnung in der Abwassertechnik: Neue Verfahren für Klärschlamm und Klärschlammaschen (in German),
Sebastian Petzet,
Schriftenreihe IWAR, Band 220, Dissertation, FB 13, Technische Universität Darmstadt, 2012.
ISBN 978-3-940897-18-3 - On wet chemical phosphorus recovery from sewage sludge ash by acidic or alkaline leaching and an optimized combination of both,
Sebastian Petzet, Burkhard Peplinski, Peter Cornel,
Water Res. 2012, 46, 3769–3780.
DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2012.03.068 - Prevention of Struvite Scaling in Digesters Combined With Phosphorus Removal and Recovery – The FIX-Phos Process,
Sebastian Petzet, Peter Cornel,
Water Environ. Res. 2012, 84, 220–226.
DOI: 10.2175/106143012X13347678384125 - Inorganic carbon limitations on nitrification: Experimental assessment and modelling,
Albert Guisasola, Sebastian Petzet, Juan A. Baeza, Julián Carrera, Javier Lafuente,
Water Res. 2007, 41, 277–286.
DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2006.10.030
Also of Interest
- Peak Phosphorus: A Challenge for Chemical Engineering,
Vera Köster,
ChemViews Mag. 2014.
DOI: 10.1002/chemv.201400028
Phosphorus is essential for every living organism and cannot be substituted like oil, but its reserves are limited and its distribution uneven - Jahrestagung der Wasserchemischen Gesellschaft (Wasser 2015)
An opportunity to meet water chemists from all backgrounds and exchange experiences and ideas - Homepage of the Willy Hager Foundation (in German)
